The Securities and Alternate Fee has introduced a serious upward evaluation of minimal capital necessities for capital market operators, elevating thresholds throughout brokerage companies, fund managers, market infrastructure suppliers, fintech corporations, and digital asset platforms as a part of efforts to strengthen investor safety and market stability.
The revised necessities are contained in Round No. 26-1 dated January 16, 2026, issued below the Investments and Securities Act 2025. The modifications characterize the primary complete adjustment to capital necessities in Nigeria’s capital market since 2015.
Based on the Fee, the evaluation was undertaken to make sure that capital adequacy requirements replicate the growing scale, complexity, and threat publicity of actions inside the market.
The SEC famous that the framework is designed to reinforce the monetary energy and operational resilience of regulated entities, cut back systemic threat, and be certain that operators have enough monetary capability to fulfill their obligations sustainably. It additionally goals to assist innovation and orderly improvement in rising areas equivalent to digital property and commodities buying and selling.
Below the brand new guidelines, minimal capital necessities for brokerage and dealing companies have been considerably elevated. Brokers offering consumer execution companies at the moment are required to keep up a minimal capital base of ₦600 million, up from ₦200 million beforehand.
Sellers engaged in proprietary buying and selling should now maintain ₦1 billion, whereas broker-dealers providing execution, proprietary buying and selling, margin lending, and advisory companies are required to keep up at the very least ₦2 billion, in contrast with ₦300 million below the earlier regime.
Sub-brokers are additionally affected by the modifications. Digital sub-brokers should now keep ₦100 million in capital, whereas company sub-brokers are required to carry ₦50 million, up from ₦10 million every.
In a notable shift, the SEC launched express capital necessities for Digital Asset Service Suppliers as a part of its efforts to convey digital asset operations totally below regulatory oversight. Digital Asset Exchanges and Digital Asset Custodians at the moment are required to keep up ₦2 billion every, a rise from ₦500 million.
Different digital asset operators, together with Digital Property Providing Platforms, Digital Property Intermediaries, and Actual-World Property Tokenisation and Providing Platforms, should maintain between ₦500 million and ₦1 billion, relying on the character and scale of their actions. Ancillary Digital Asset Service Suppliers are required to keep up a minimal capital of ₦300 million.
Capital necessities for fintech operators have additionally been raised. Robo-advisers at the moment are required to keep up ₦100 million, in contrast with ₦10 million beforehand, whereas crowdfunding intermediaries should maintain ₦200 million, up from ₦100 million.
The revised framework additional introduces substantial will increase for fund and portfolio managers. Full-scope portfolio managers dealing with collective funding schemes and different funding funds with giant property below administration should now keep ₦5 billion in capital, in contrast with ₦150 million beforehand.
Restricted-scope managers are required to carry ₦2 billion, whereas personal fairness and enterprise capital fund managers should now keep ₦500 million and ₦200 million respectively.
For market infrastructure suppliers, composite securities exchanges at the moment are required to keep up ₦10 billion in capital, whereas non-composite exchanges should maintain ₦5 billion. The minimal capital for a Central Counterparty has been raised to ₦10 billion, and Clearing and Settlement Corporations at the moment are required to keep up ₦5 billion.
The SEC directed all affected entities to adjust to the revised minimal capital necessities on or earlier than June 30, 2027, warning that failure to fulfill the brand new thresholds inside the stipulated interval may entice regulatory sanctions, together with suspension or withdrawal of registration.
The Fee added that transitional preparations could also be thought of on a case-by-case foundation upon software, and that additional steerage on compliance procedures and capital verification processes shall be issued individually.
The revised framework takes impact from the date of publication and is predicted to reshape Nigeria’s capital market by encouraging consolidation, strengthening weaker operators, and bettering total market stability as members modify to increased regulatory and threat administration requirements.
